


Kiss Me Hard Before You Go

by neonmoon



Series: Cafe AU [1]
Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Bad Jokes, Cafe AU, Fluff, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-09
Updated: 2017-01-09
Packaged: 2018-09-15 22:49:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,321
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9261623
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neonmoon/pseuds/neonmoon
Summary: Everyday at 5pm, the same guy comes to the cafe Jisoo works at and sits at the same seat. He always orders strawberry shortcake, finishes the strawberries but not the cake. Jisoo feels like he’s getting repeatedly slapped in the face.





	

**Author's Note:**

> closely based on [this comic](http://iwannakissallama.tumblr.com/post/86268131930/i-really-need-to-draw-a-bubbleline-au-where-pb). i really wanted to finish this before the sem starts so...here it is, just some jihan fluff that was meant to be a drabble but...yeah. thanks for reading! ￫∀￩

It is snowing outside when Mingyu comes in for his shift an hour earlier than he is supposed to. Jisoo takes his eyes off the decoration that he has been sorting out all afternoon and smiles in greeting.

“I gotta leave early on Friday,” Mingyu explains, “so Seungcheol hyung asked me to come in early because you’re covering for him today and he feels bad.” He is tugging at his scarf, having knotted it a little too tightly, and is trying to loosen it enough to take it off.

“There’s nothing he should feel bad about. It’s not like I’m doing this for free.”

Seungcheol, their boss, is too nice for his own good. He is also the first friend Jisoo made in college. All these years, Seungcheol has never explained where he got the funding for Love&Letter comes from and Jisoo doesn’t ask. Everyone has their secrets and he is more than happy to help Seungcheol keep his. When he isn’t working at Love&Letter as a part-time pastry expert, Jisoo is an aspiring music therapist. He is determined to make it there without relying heavily on his family and getting his baccalaureate degree is only the first step.

“Plus, I’m the best multi-tasker he’s ever hired.”

That said, Jisoo steps away from the counter and stands with his hands on his hips, watching Mingyu move on from his scarf to continue struggling with the dark brown apron. It has been six months and Mingyu still can’t tie an easy knot under ten seconds.

When he has finally got his apron on, Mingyu gestured at the box of reindeer headbands and asks, “Those for me?”

Eyebrows raised, Jisoo warns, “Only if you think you can use them all.”

Mingyu thinks about it, then grins as if something is funny. “I’m pretty sure I can,” he announces, “One on my head, one making a special beard, one as a trendy choker…”

“Pretty sure that’s gonna get you fired because your terrible fashion sense is going to scare away all our customers.”

“Our customers love me,” Mingyu protests.

Jisoo is about to refute this when the cafe door slides open, accompanied by the tinkling bells he has stuck next to the “Welcome” sign. The customer is a young man around their age, with long blond hair tied up in a ponytail. He is wearing a grey pullover this time, laptop in hand, and he walks up to the counter instead of first finding a seat.

“The usual,” he says, meeting Jisoo’s gaze with a small smile. Mingyu busies himself with unwrapping a candy cane meant for customers as Jisoo keys in the order and receives the payment.

“I didn’t realise it’s almost five,” Jisoo mutters. “He’s right on time.”

Catching on, Mingyu asks worriedly, "Who? Is he a weirdo? Do I need to call for backup?”

“He’s called Jeonghan,” Jisoo answers. “And no, he’s not a weirdo. Not exactly. Go make the tea, please.”

As he reaches for a cup from the shelf above the coffee machine, Mingyu steals a glance at Jeonghan, who is seated next to the wall of polaroids - mostly selfies of the staff members and customers who have celebrated special occasions at Love&Letter. Jeonghan appears to be working on something on his laptop, looking as attractive as he is serious.

“Do me a favour,” Jisoo urges, “Serve him his tea and cake.”

Mingyu complies only because Jisoo promises to tell him why he doesn’t want to serve Jeonghan himself. Jisoo observes the wordless and incredibly brief interaction between Mingyu and Jeonghan. Usually, Mingyu is quick to charm their customers, regardless of their gender, and strike up a conversation about anything under the sun: missing a dental appointment, accidentally stepping on a dog’s tail, family holiday… You name it, Mingyu has probably chatted with a customer about it before.

Once Mingyu is back behind the counter with him, Jisoo takes his eyes off Jeonghan. He doesn’t want to admit that he feels a little reluctant.

“Yeah, he looks normal,” Mingyu concedes, “In fact, he’s very good-looking. Especially with that long hair. I can never pull it off. Guys usually get offended if they’re called pretty but he’s probably heard it a thousand times. He’s definitely pretty...but in a very manly way… Does that make sense?”

Jisoo scoffs but he knows that Mingyu is right.

“So… What’s your deal?” Mingyu asks, prying.

“There’s no deal,” Jisoo insists. “It’s just that…” he starts, “He’s been coming here almost everyday, always at 3pm, sitting at the same seat. Then, he asks for a cup of earl grey and a strawberry shortcake.”

Mingyu frowns, confused, “Um. Hyung… What’s wrong with that? Bad combination?”

Hands busy with the task of sorting out the tea packets that were delivered two days ago, Jisoo sighs, “It’s a good combination. In fact, it’s one of my favourites. The thing is, he finishes the tea but never the shortcake! He only eats the strawberry and leaves the rest.”

Mingyu is starting to see the problem here. _Thank god._ “He doesn’t eat the cake? But everyone loves your cakes!”

“Exactly!” Jisoo exclaims, hands gesturing wildly at the display counter, “I know I always sound like an egotistical dick when I say this, but my cakes are good! I might be shit at preparing the mains, unlike you, but I’ve spent years perfecting my desserts and I haven’t met anyone I can’t satisfy.”

“You’re right,” Mingyu hums, “You do sound like an egotistical dick when when you say this. Or maybe, an ego _testical_ dick. Geddit?”

“Oh my god. Shut up, Kim Mingyu,” Jisoo groans. He ignores Mingyu, who is laughing uproariously at his own pathetic joke, and his thoughts go back to Jeonghan. He doesn’t want to make it obvious that he is staring, so he lets his eyes rest on Jeonghan’s reflection on the glass door. He can’t help but feel as though he is getting slapped in the face every time he takes note of the fact that Jeonghan never eats his cakes.

It seems too petty a reason for him to want to confront a customer but Jisoo can’t calm the storm brewing inside his head. He wants to know why. If Jeonghan doesn’t like his strawberry shortcakes, he can easily order something else or better yet, just go to a different cafe instead causing Jisoo suffering.  

“I’ll ask him,” Jisoo grits out, more to himself than to Mingyu, who is distracted by a text message Jisoo is sure is sent by Wonwoo.

“You go do your thing, hyung,” Mingyu replies, not looking up from his phone.

Jisoo drags himself out of his train of thoughts, only to discover Jeonghan’s seat has been emptied. He supposes it isn’t his day to be brave.

 

 

♨

 

 

Jisoo doesn’t confront Jeonghan the next day, nor the next next day, and he knows how ridiculous it seems.  

In fact, two weeks have passed since he told Mingyu he would pluck up his courage and all this while, Jisoo’s courage remained unplucked, rotting away in the basement of feelings he wished he can get away with living his whole life without ever confronting.

They still have a week to go but Love&Letter has already began to smell like Christmas. Seungcheol has given Jisoo and Mingyu the go-ahead to switch the less popular items on their menu to recipes that appear more festive. A few regulars have already given Jisoo compliments on his fruit cakes and ugly sweater cookies and they have landed a few orders for corporate parties on Christmas Eve. It won’t be long until Jisoo has to work overtime and slave away in the kitchen to make sure everything is perfect for the season of giving.

Until then, however, he will be out front, searching for his spunk while Mingyu watches him like he is a very interesting movie.

Checking the time, Jisoo wonders if Jeonghan will turn up later. If he is, he better prays that nobody orders the last piece of strawberry shortcake in the next twenty minutes. Jisoo can’t help but imagine the look on Jeonghan’s face if he finds out that today is the day he has to go without his daily order. He hasn’t seen a look of displeasure on Jeonghan’s face since the first day he turned up and trying to imagine dismay colouring Jeonghan’s face brings a subconscious smile to Jisoo’s lips.

“What’s so funny?”

Mingyu’s questions jolts Jisoo out of his own head and self-consciously, he rubs at his face, grin fading.

“Nothing,” he says. Knowing Mingyu won’t let it go unless he is distracted with a task, Jisoo asks, “Can you help me replenish the candy canes?”

Mingyu shoots him a knowing look but doesn’t say anything else. When he’s gone, out back at the storeroom, Jisoo heaves a sigh of relief. He doesn’t know why he feels so guilty thinking about Jeonghan on the job, but he knows that it is a sign that he should stop running away from his priorities.

  


♨

 

 

“The same as always?”

“Yeah.”

This time, Jeonghan’s hair is untied and he is wearing a pale pink sweater over a light blue button-up shirt. The first thought that strikes Jisoo is that _how is he making the pink sweater look so fucking hot on him_ before the sweater reminds him of all the pieces of strawberry shortcakes that have gone to waste because this Jeonghan dude clearly has a problem and Jisoo wants to know just what the heck his problem is. So he finally remembers the courage that has been collecting dust in the basement and decides that today is the day he plucks it and put it to good use.

He wants to do something drama-worthy like storm up to Jeonghan’s table and slam a fist down before demanding to know the reason why Jeonghan hasn’t bothered tasting his prized recipe since his first visit to the cafe three weeks ago.

However, Mingyu, ever so helpful, hisses to him something about professionalism and not making a scene because that might cost Jisoo his job, no matter how nice Seungcheol may be, so Jisoo ends up spending ten whole minutes cleaning the tables around Jeonghan’s before he shuffles over to his final destination.

Jeonghan looks up as soon as Jisoo approaches and it is definitely _not_ Jisoo’s fault that he is momentarily distracted by Jeonghan’s ridiculously pretty eyes. And nose. And lips. And then he remembers what his agenda is. _Right, confront him_.

“Um…” Jisoo is already off to a bad start because he definitely doesn’t sound assertive enough. In his head, he’s hurling curses at the polite smile lifting the ends of Jeonghan’s lips. Nobody should be allowed to be this attractive.

Jisoo notices that Jeonghan’s fingers are playing with his cup, which is already empty. Jisoo tongue feels leaden and he sucks in a deep breath to muster his courage. He almost chokes on his saliva.

“I want you to tell me why you never eat the cakes." Another deep breath, then, Jisoo momentarily loses his fear.

"Look, I make the cakes everyday and everyone loves them. I work hard. Everyday, I wake up early for my morning classes even though I hate them all, come here after that, make the cakes, work and also take care of the needy part-timers that I’ve come to love. Even though you're really cute, I still want to know why my effort doesn’t seem to be good enough for you.”

The speech he has been writing and rewriting is a lot shorter and a lot more refined than this, but Jisoo's brain decides to just _fuck it all._   

When Jisoo is done with his outburst, he meets Jeonghan's eyes. Jeonghan looks contemplative as he fixes Jisoo a long, hard stare.

 _Oh god,_ Jisoo thinks _. He is going to fight me. Or file a complaint._

“I just don’t really have a sweet tooth." 

_I’m either going to lose my job or lose  my life. I don’t know which is worse - Wait, what?_

Jisoo blinks, uncomprehending. He is part relieved, part confused. Maybe more confused than relieved. “Um. Okay… So why do you always come here and order the cake?”

“I just want an excuse to see you everyday. Plus, you always smile when you’re preparing the cakes.”

There is a silence of surprise because Jisoo is so horribly flustered and he is sure Jeonghan can see the blush creeping up his cheeks. Words fail him as he struggles to come up with an appropriate response but his mind keeps drawing a blank. A minute passes.

“So…” Jeonghan says, “...you make the cakes? I didn’t know that. Sorry.”

“Y - Yes.”

“Bring me something else, then? Maybe something not so sweet. As long as it's your recommendations, I promise I’ll eat them all from now onwards.”

“Uh. Sure. I mean, yes. Sorry. Uh...”

Jisoo’s second attempt at sounding like he’s got his shit together goes flying out of the window again.

“It’s okay,” Jeonghan is still smiling that polite smile, almost deliberate, “because I find you cute too. If it’s anyone else I’d have filed a complaint. Or maybe fight them.”

In the end, Jisoo has to ask Mingyu to pass Jeonghan’s food to him. He wants to do it himself but really, Jeonghan doesn’t need to see him make a bigger fool of himself.

About thirty minutes after that, the chair is empty again.

There is something different this time, though. As he clears the table Jeonghan occupied, Jisoo finds a number scribbled on the napkin that is a little wet on the edges. 

_See you tomorrow, Jisoo :-)_

Jisoo's cheeks lift in an attempt to stifle the smile that has leaped to his lips. After a while, when his cheeks are starting to ache from the effort, he gives up trying and spends the rest of his day thinking tomorrow can’t possibly come soon enough. 


End file.
